Life

Submitted by Gerry Hinman, Berkshire Farm Center Coordinator of Therapeutic Recreation and Project Adventure & Adventure Based Counseling enthusiast.

While at a PA debriefing workshop with Jim Schoel, I had an opportunity to add a new tool to my tool bag – actually it was 10 oddly-shaped rocks. At first, I was very skeptical. While building a tower of his own, Jim instructed the group members to grab as many rocks from the bucket and “do something” with them while reflecting on their lives. Being a veteran adventure practitioner, I reserved judgment and went about the task of “doing something” with these rocks. Minimally, I felt that I would build the biggest tower of the group and impress my fellow group members. My first attempt went very well. I immediately built an impressive tower and it was almost complete when I decided to add just one more rock and it came crashing down. Uggh... I would have to begin again and I was quite frustrated as I attempted to attain my prior success. This time I was far more rational and logical about my placement of rocks and still…disaster. Finally, after much effort, I had reached the height that I once attained and I went for the rock that had toppled my first attempt. It was then that I paused and looked at what I had accomplished and said to myself “be satisfied with what you have accomplished.” It was a fine tower and I did not need the stress of having it come crashing down again. Throughout the remainder of the day, I felt myself drawn to looking at my rock sculpture and the way that these solid objects rested upon themselves in a precarious manner and that, at the very bottom, the foundation was balanced by the smallest of stones. I saw the frailty of life in my little sculpture and how it can all come crashing down if we don’t know when to say “enough.”

When we processed the activity in the workshop, I was amazed to see how everyone had taken a different approach with their rocks. Some used the rocks to tell the story of their lives, with the rocks representing people. One person created a replica structure of a place where he used to live which had been a sanctuary for him. I thought hard about how the experience related to my life and was stunned to realize that everything about the process was like my life. I realized that I am always pushing “things” to the limit and that never knowing when to say “enough’s enough” often has unwanted consequences such as stress. I realized that I do better and enjoy the process better when I don’t over think what it is that I am doing!

I decided to take these rocks back with me and rebuild them in my office. I set the rocks on the table in my office until one day I had time to rebuild them. A funny thing happened, however, when one of my employees sat down and built a rock sculpture with “my rocks.” My first reaction was disappointment which immediately turned into a smile as I realized that these rocks would be used to build over and over again and that each sculptor would have his or her own story. His rock sculpture fell the very next day and I noticed the look of disappointment on his face and reassured him that this was good and that now someone else would have an opportunity to re-build it and learn.

Today, that someone was me. I re-set them up as a reminder that no matter how strong we are, it is often the smallest things that keep us standing tall and sometimes the key to happiness is knowing when “enough is enough.”

Stories from the Playground

Stories From the Playground: An Introduction

Welcome to the first post in our blog series, Stories from the Playground a series of posts directly from the implementation of PA’s Peaceable Playgrounds model at several local schools.  My name is Suze Runnells and I am a Youth Specialist, Trainer and Consultant and have been working with PA for about ten years. I found the following article in the New York Times, and have shared my thoughts and reflections on the article as well as some thoughts on how to make recess successful playtime.

What is the quality of the recess experience at your school? Are students thriving at recess? Do staff feel comfortable managing recess? I work with elementary schools supporting them in creating positive school-wide culture. Many school communities are struggling with unstructured playtime. Recess is a perfect time for students to be active, get fresh air and practice skills they are learning about how to play with one another: In other words, unstructured play is valuable and critical to youth development.

What is the recipe for a successful recess? Students and staff need to know what to expect and what is expected of them. The following ingredients are helpful in co-creating a positive recess time that promotes students to build autonomy.

1. Recess Guidelines: Clear and agreed upon norms of operation including how equipment is used, stored and cared for; which activities are to happen in which areas of the playground; grade specific guidelines; line up process, posted basic rules for games such as four square, consistent consequences for positive and negative behaviors, etc.
2. Full Value Contract: Commitment from community members to 4-6 positive ways to treat one another. Discussed and defined by community and publicly displayed. A great place to introduce and practice the Full Value Contract is in Physical Education class using Project Adventure’s Adventure Curriculum for Physical Education. Example: Play Fair, Play Kind, Play Safe, Let go and move on and Fun for All (adapted from the curriculum).
3. Skill Building for Staff and Students: Offer opportunities for staff and student development. Project Adventure’s Peaceable Playgrounds model offers training and consultation for staff to increase their skills in group management, leading cooperative games aimed at teaching students skills in how to play successfully together and guidance in creating opportunities for student leadership.

Click here for the New York Times article

Tag: Increasing Activity, Increasing Skills

Increasing participation and physical activity in a tag game, increases opportunities for learning social and emotional skills.

 

By Nate Folan

“Tag, you’re “it” and your goal is to get everyone out!” Or is it? Tag games, by their very nature are games of speed, agility, and elimination, unless you change the rules. Project Adventure has been changing the rules of education for 40 years. It’s no shocker that within the field of experiential education, the rules of tag have been adapted to increase participation, increase physical activity, and develop social emotional learning skills. Here are a few of the adaptations:

Consider the classic tag game Everybody’s It. In Everybody’s It, anyone can attempt to tag anyone else at anytime. Once a participant is tagged, they are “out,” unless you change the rules. Usually if someone is out during a tag game they either take a knee or sit right where they are or leave the area of play. Once providing opportunities to get back “in” increases participation, physical activity, and social interaction. A well known and simple rule change is that anyone who is still “in,” or moving around, may high ten frozen participants allowing them to get back in and attempt to tag others again. The high ten allows more participants to play the game for longer periods of time, while creating a social dynamic of helping others. And, in some cases, it allows some people the chance to help themselves. If there is no one left to tag, there is no game to play.

The competitor in each of us may challenge this. However, changing the rules, or perhaps perspective in this case, allows a competitor to see that trying to get more tags in a particular amount of time may be more fun and challenging than trying to eliminate everyone. It also provides choices for players who care less about the number of tags they get and care more for how many people they have helped or how few times they have been tagged. These choices create social and emotional learning opportunities for goal setting, helping others, and asking for help, to name a few.

High Ten is one way to change the rules of tag. Here are a few others:
•    Ankle Biters – In many tag games, once a person is tagged, they simple take a knee where they were tagged. From there, an exciting addition to any tag game is to allow these tagged participants to tag other peoples from their knee. If tagged by an Ankle Biter, a player must take a knee, just like everyone else and may continue to participate as an Ankle Biter. Using this rule provides an opportunity to develop the skill of awareness.

•    Pop-up Tag – Adding Ankle Biters provides an opportunity to add another participation increasing option called Pop-up or Pop-up Tag. Using this variation allows participants who are successful in making a tag from their knee to “pop up,” move again, and attempt to tag others. Another way to say this is, when an Ankle Biter tags someone, “they go down, you go up.” The learning opportunity here comes from the opportunity for someone to help themselves. It also creates the need for players who have not been tagged or have returned from being tagged to be more aware of all players.

•    Tag ‘em – If Pop-up tag is a good variation, Tag ‘em is a great variation. It adds the elements of awareness and surprise. When a player is tagged, they again take a knee and remain where they were tagged. Instead of being able to help themselves this time, they must rely on their own observation skills and the helpful will of others. Tagged participants must be aware of who tagged them.  They then track (with their eyes) this tagger until they get tagged. Once the person who tagged them gets tagged, they are able to get back in. In doing so this person may even surprise others because as some players are getting tagged, other players are randomly returning with little indication. From this participants learn to have greater awareness, expect the unexpected, and be quick on their feet.

•    Add On – Simple right? Once someone has been tagged they add on or join the person who tagged them, by holding hands or linking elbows with the tagger. Now the two or more people who are linked together continue playing as a team attempting to tag other people or teams. To reiterate, if someone is tagged by another person or team they add on to who tag them and play continues. This participation increasing concept has been popularized and most notably associated with the tag game called Blob Tag (aka Tusker Tag).  However, when using this variation in an “everybody’s it” game, such as Everybody’s It, Knee Tag, or Step Tag the game may simply be called Add On Tag. For fun though, we could  go with the Blob Tag theme and have names like Every-Blob’s It, Blob Knee Tag or Blob Step Tag? Have you ever played any of these? No? Me neither, I can’t wait to try!

These rule changes, or should I say rule additions, are great for tag games such as Everybody’s It, Knee Tag, Step Tag, and Asteroids. They increase participation, increase physical activity, and create more social emotional learning opportunities. Play with these ideas and let us know how it goes.


 

Up in the air: Ropes course offers challenges

MEAGAN THOMPSON/Times-News

Check out one of Project Adventure's recent installations. Many clients call seeking ideas on how to get the most out of their challenge courses.

This is a great example of the many different ways one can utilize this tool, both programmatically and fiscally. This college-owned facility is serving students, faculty, community members, military, and local school groups. They have gotten creative.

If this course really excites you, we are hosting three workshops here in 2011. See a full list of our workshop offerings at Project Adventure Workshops.

Click here to access the article